I bought the Lansky Deluxe 5-stone knife sharpening kit. The best thing about it? Hearing these words when I enter the kitchen: “Babes, these new* knives cut so much better than the old ones.”

The knives aren’t new, but they cut like new—even better—after a session with the Lansky.

*My wife knows they’re not new, but that’s her way of speaking.

I didn’t use the Lansky; I abused it.

I spent more than 10 hours sharpening steak knives, chef’s knives, an axe, a pair of scissors, mini multi tools and a woodworking chisel. In this post I show you how to use the Lansky and how a sharp blade makes a world of difference.

If you’re not convinced by the end of this post that a Lansky is a great tool, I’ll abstain from eating for 60 minutes.

I’m an Average Joe. I don’t have a love affair with knives. They’re tools. As long as the knife in my hand cuts well, I couldn’t care less about what type of knife it is, or the brand.

But a blunt knife is a pain in the nether regions. It drags out the task and wastes your energy.

And don’t think a new knife comes with a sharp edge. You’ll not find a new mass produced knife with a razor’s edge. Some people don’t know this. They buy a knife and start hacking and chopping and slicing away. They think that the blade is sharp because it’s new.

Not necessarily.

Most knives are made on production lines. Manufacturers aren’t concerned with giving you a sharp tool. They’ll give you a working product, but you must make it better.

There’s a remarkable difference between a dull blade and a sharp blade.

Saves time

It’s a truism that a sharp knife works faster than a dull knife. I don’t need to prove this. It’s a vanilla fact.

How much time do you waste on cutting with a sub-par cutting edge?

Run a test using a blunt knife and a sharpened knife. Cut various items with both and note the time difference. You’d be surprised at how much time a dull blade costs you.

Saves energy

My wife’s the chef in our home. She’s good at cooking. Her food’s my favourite.

We’re meat and veggie eaters. We eat plenty of pumpkin. They’re difficult to cut. My wife often calls me into the kitchen for cutting duty. It’s an exhausting task for her, even with a sharp knife. Throw in a dull blade and it becomes a drag. A sharp blade makes the task easier.

Handles a beating

I didn’t expect the honing stones to last long. As mentioned earlier, I didn’t use the Lansky, I abused it. I read the manual, snorted at their directions and did my own thing.

The Lansky took it.

After more than ten hours of assault, the honing stones are fine. They’re like Rocky Balboa. A few scratches here and there, but ready for another round.

Dislikes

The Lansky isn’t perfect. Here are my main issues with it.

Screws don’t tighten well

The Lansky doesn’t grip a blade well IF you don’t tighten the main screw with a pair of pliers. I didn’t use a pair of pliers the first time I sharpened a knife, so the knife shifted while I worked on it. This caused me to lose the sharpening angle.

After this experience I started tightening the locking screw with pliers. It works fine, despite my initial doubts.

I would have preferred the Lansky with hex button-head cap screws, though.

Tighten the red-headed screw with a pair of pliers to prevent a blade from moving while clamped in the Lansky.

A file extension would work well

While sharpening the axe, I couldn’t help but wonder why Lansky doesn’t make a file extension for working down rough edges. Lansky makes a heavy duty tool sharpener, but it doesn’t work in the same way their honing stones work. They could design a tool sharpener with a guide rod extension.

It won’t work well on all metals. A file has no effect on hard metal. But there are cases where a file would work well.

Price

Compare this to knife sharpening services in the USA. You’ll pay from $1.75 to $3 per inch. Add shipping—$5 per order—and your bill for sending in knives soon surpasses a Lansky’s price.

Let’s do some calculations.

I sharpened 16 blades with a combined length of 1,784mm (70.24 inches).

I sharpened 16 edges with the Lansky, with a combined length of 1,784mm.

Let’s cut the sharpening price to $1.50 per inch AND exclude shipping costs.

70.24 inches x $1.50 per inch = $105.36.

It would cost you $105 to have your knives sharpened by someone else. Remember, that doesn’t include shipping.

The Lansky lets you do the job at less than a third of the price.

Yes, it takes time to sharpen blades, but it saves you plenty of money.

Besides, what if you want to try a different angle on one of your knives? With the Lansky you can experiment. If you don’t like your new angle, hone it back to the old one.

Warranty

I emailed Lansky for warranty info. They responded with a PDF document outlining their Limited Lifetime Product Warranty.

Here it is, verbatim:

Warranty: Lansky warranties this item to be free from defects in material and workmanship for the life of this tool. Damages caused by alteration, misuse, or abuse are not covered by this guarantee. Lansky disclaims any responsibility for incidental or consequential damages.

European Union Warranty: Lansky warranties this item to be free from defects in material and workmanship for the life of this tool. Damages caused by alteration, misuse or abuse are not covered by this guarantee.

Lansky disclaims any responsibility for incidental or consequential damages. This guarantee is in addition to and does not affect your statutory rights with respect to faulty goods.

If your product has a manufacturer’s defect which is covered by this guarantee, we will repair or replace it (at our option). Return the item directly to us at:

Only standard honing stones

It comes with five flat honing stones. You can only use it for sharpening smooth edged blades.

How to use

It’s easy to use the Lansky. Follow along, but…

Before you start

Before using the Lansky, know the following:

The Lansky doesn’t do well on long blade. There’s a big difference in sharpening angle from one end of the edge to the other.

This doesn’t bother me, but it’s something to keep in mind.

Oil the honing stones before and during use.

The Lansky Deluxe kit comes with honing oil. If you run out, use mineral oil (medicinal liquid paraffin).

The sharpening angle is a guideline. It’s not perfect. The blade’s width and length determine the actual angle.

When you sharpen a knife for the first time, mark the Lansky’s position on the knife, while it’s clamped. The next time you sharpen the knife, you won’t have to worry about having to create a new edge from scratch.

Tighten the clamp screw with a pair of pliers. Your fingers won’t do a good enough job.

Tighten the honing stone rod extensions with a pair of pliers, else they keep coming loose.

Follow these steps

Use a pair of pliers. If the guide rod isn’t tight, it moves around, causing mild frustration.

Make sure the knife clamp bolts are loose.

Slide the knife into the knife clamp slot.

If the blade’s wide, don’t use the slot. Seat the knife against the Phillips screw.

Tighten the Phillips screw.

Tighten the red screw.

Use a pair of pliers to tighten it.

Drip oil onto the honing stones. Rub it into the stones with your finger.

The oil keeps the stones lubricated AND keeps them from clogging.

Start with the 70 grit stone (if the cutting edge is in a bad condition), working your way up to the 1000 grit.

The 70 grit is the roughest stone. If the blade isn’t too bad, you can start with a smoother stone.

Slide the guide rod into one of the Lansky’s angle slots.

Lay the honing stone on the blade’s edge.

Applying pressure, push the stone up and sideways, towards the clamp’s centre. Cover one to two inches.

Once the edge is sharp, remove the honing stone and guide rod.

Flip the whole thing over.

On the other side, slide the guide rod into one of the Lansky’s angle slots.

Lay the honing stone on the blade’s edge.

Applying pressure, push the stone up and sideways, towards the clamp’s centre. Cover one to two inches.

When you’re finished with the last honing stone, loosen the screws and remove the knife.

Wash the knife and start cutting.

Attach the guide rod to the honing stone.

Tighten the guide rod using pliers.

Make sure the knife clamp bolts are loose.

Slide the knife in the knife clamp slot.

If the blade’s wide, don’t worry about using the slot. Seat the knife against the Phillips screw.

Tighten the Phillips screw.

Tighten the knurl knob screw with a pair of pliers.

Add a few drops of oil to the honing stone.

A few drops of oil on the 70 grit honing stone.

Spread the oil across the honing stone’s surface.

Slide the guide rod into one of the angle slots on the Lansky clamp.

Lay the honing stone on the blade’s edge.

Applying pressure, push the stone up and sideways, towards the centre of the clamp. Cover one to two inches.

Flip the whole thing over. On the other side, slide the guide rod into one of the angle slots on the Lansky clamp.

Lay the honing stone on the blade’s edge.

Applying pressure, push the stone up and sideways, towards the centre of the clamp. Cover one to two inches.

Sharpening angles

The Lansky has four sharpening angles:

17 degrees

Recommended for razor blades, fillet knives and similar tools.

20 degrees

Recommended for kitchen cutlery and slicing knives.

25 degrees

Recommended for hunting and outdoor knives.

30 degrees

Recommended for cardboard, wire and carpet cutting knives, and other heavy duty blades.

Inaccurate sharpening angles

The Lansky’s angles aren’t accurate. Two factors determine the sharpening angle. These are:

The blade’s width.

The blade’s placement inside the knife clamp.

I’m no mathematician, but let me explain the hypotenuse concept as best I can.

The Lansky, with the honing stone and guide rod in place and resting on the knife, creates a triangle. They call one side of that triangle, the one represented by the honing stone, the hypotenuse.

The hypotenuse is the longest side of a right-angled triangle, opposite the right angle.

On the Lansky, the hypotenuse is the length from the knife’s edge to the edge of the hole through which you stick the honing stone extension.

The true sharpening angle is determined by the blade’s width.

The further you move the edge, or the wider the blade, the longer the hypotenuse becomes. This changes the sharpening angle.

To further complicate things, the Lansky struggles to accommodate a long blade. There’s a big difference between the honing angle closest to the knife clamp, and the honing angle at the point farthest from the clamp. This shows best on longer blades.

But you won’t mind these shortcomings once you see the difference a sharp blade makes.

True sharpening angles

To determine the Lansky’s true sharpening angles, I measured two knives while they were clamped in the Lansky. One’s a steak knife, the other a chef’s knife.

Note: These calculations aren’t rock solid. I don’t have digital measuring equipment. I own a standard vernier caliper and ruler. The purpose of this exercise is to show you the difference between angles a small distance makes, not to give you exact scientific data.

The chef’s knife and steak knife I used for measuring the Lansky’s true sharpening angles.

Here are the specs…

Specs for a chef's knife and steak knife, for the purpose of working out the sharpening angle. Metric and Imperial.

Chef's knife (metric)

Chef's knife (Imperial)

Steak knife (metric)

Steak knife (Imperial)

Blade's width (at widest point)

41.4mm

1.63 inches

21mm

0.83 inches

Cutting edge length

188mm

7.40 inches

115mm

4.53 inches

Hypotenuse - 17 degrees - shortest angle

132.5mm

5,22 inches

112.5mm

4.43 inches

Hypotenuse - 17 degrees - longest angle

190mm

7.48 inches

139mm

5.47 inches

Hypotenuse - 20 degrees - shortest angle

134mm

5.28 inches

114mm

4.49 inches

Hypotenuse - 20 degrees - longest angle

191mm

7.52 inches

140mm

5.51 inches

Hypotenuse - 25 degrees - shortest angle

135.8mm

5.35 inches

115.8mm

4.56 inches

Hypotenuse - 25 degrees - longest angle

193mm

7.60 inches

141.5mm

5.57 inches

Hypotenuse - 30 degrees - shortest angle

138mm

5.43 inches

118.8mm

4.67 inches

Hypotenuse - 30 degrees - longest angle

194mm

7.64 inches

144mm

5.67 inches

Longest right angle length

188mm

7.40 inches

136.4mm

5.37 inches

Shortest right angle length

130.8mm

5.15 inches

110mm

4,33 inches

Blade cutting edge lengths.

Note: Do not clamp your knives as I did in the pictures below. I did it to make a point, not for sharpening.